AudioFile’s Best Audiobooks of November
The Month to Come in Literary Listening
Each month, our friends at AudioFile Magazine share a curated list of the best audiobooks for your literary listening pleasure.
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NOVEMBER FICTION
Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout| Read by Kimberly Farr
AudioFile Earphones Award
[Random House Audio | 11 hrs.]
Narrator Kimberly Farr pretty much owns Elizabeth Strout’s Maine characters at this point, and what a good thing that is. This quietly compelling novel brings together Strout’s beloved, sometimes maddening, always vivid characters from multiple novels past, many of them also performed by Farr.
Farr has the skill to make each personality distinct and idiosyncratic, and the taste and training to balance each one’s needs and wants as they weave in and out of one another’s days.
There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak| Read by Olivia Vinall, Elif Shafak
AudioFile Earphones Award
[Random House Audio | 16.75 hrs.]
Olivia Vinall’s slight English accent and careful diction allow the listener to enjoy the lyrical language in the overlapping stories of Arthur, a young man in Victorian London; Narin, a Yezidi girl in Turkey in 2014; and Zaleekhah, a woman in London in 2018. Author Shafak masterfully uses water to illustrate the connections between cultures and the passage of time.
The Last Hour Between Worlds by Melissa Caruso| Read by Moira Quirk
AudioFile Earphones Award
[Hachette Audio | 14.25 hrs.]
In this locked-room fantasy, Moira Quirk’s vocal confidence and captivating talent are on full display. Just two months after giving birth, the famous Hound Guildmember Kembral Thorne attends a New Year’s Eve party. But what’s supposed to be a gathering of various public officials and guilds quickly becomes a bloodbath.
Because of Quirk’s vocal expertise, each partygoer is deftly crafted into a unique and richly realized player in the night’s mystery.
The Sequel: The Book Series, Volume 2 by Jean Hanff Korelitz| Read by Julia Whelan
AudioFile Earphones Award
[Macmillan Audio | 10 hrs.]
Fans of The Plot, and they were legion, will rejoice at this sequel, performed with mesmerizing skill by the wonderful Julia Whelan. It’s no small feat to make a lethally dislikable character irresistible on the page, let alone in the ear, but Korelitz and Whelan have done it.
Whelan’s achievement here seems like a little miracle, relentlessly compelling and wonderfully satisfying.
The Lightning Bottles by Marissa Stapley| Read by Bahni Turpin
AudioFile Earphones Award
[Simon & Schuster Audio | 11.5 hrs.]
Bahni Turpin’s performance takes listeners to that time in the early 1990s when the world was changing and the latest alternative rock bands were everything. Jand and Elijah form The Lightning Bottles and amass a devoted fan base. Elijah spirals into addiction, ultimately disappearing, until a fan halfway around the world finds mysterious clues suggesting otherwise.
Turpin’s voice fully embodies the audiobook’s heartbreak and soul.
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NOVEMBER NONFICTION
The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates| Read by Ta-Nehisi Coates
AudioFile Earphones Award
[Penguin Audio | 5.25 hrs.]
Author Ta-Nehisi Coates narrates this must-listen, a powerful and thought-provoking collection of essays. Coates frequently addresses listeners in the second person, a technique that creates an intimate connection to his words. With his measured pacing and gentle delivery, he encourages listeners to ponder the important issues and questions he covers.
This audiobook is a haunting, timely examination of global affairs and the importance of truth and inclusivity in our culture.
Be Ready When the Luck Happens: A Memoir by Ina Garten| Read by Ina Garten
[Random House Audio | 8.75 hrs.]
Ina Garten narrates with the same precision, charm, poise, and irreverence exhibited on her “Barefoot Contessa” television productions. That same independent woman people know from her food preparation shows on Food Network spins quite the tale.
Garten’s narration is measured, personal, and absorbing. This is a memoir not to miss if you enjoy Ina Garten, food, and restaurants—or if you simply want to be ready to apply your special talents when the luck happens to you.
By the Fire We Carry: The Generations-Long Fight for Justice on Native Land by Rebecca Nagle| Read by Rebecca Nagle
[Harper Audio | 8.25 hrs.]
Rebecca Nagle gives a clear and compelling narration of her look into how a small-town murder in the Muscogee Nation led to a significant 2020 Supreme Court case—and the largest restoration of Native tribal land in American history. Nagle, a journalist whose reporting includes her podcast, This Land, is a practiced speaker, and she makes complex history accessible to listeners.
She weaves the personal and political together into an illuminating listen.
Night Magic: Adventures Among Glowworms, Moon Gardens, and Other Marvels of the Dark by Leigh Ann Henion| Read by Leigh Ann Henion
[Hachette Audio | 8.75 hrs.]
Leigh Ann Henion’s fascinating exploration of the natural world after dark is indeed magical. With genuine enthusiasm and a warm hint of a Southern accent, Henion invites listeners along on her adventures to seek out salamanders, fireflies, moths, glowing fungus, screech owls, night-blooming flowers, and other nighttime denizens.
Henion’s vivid descriptions will convince listeners that the wonders she encounters are special and worth venturing into the unknown to experience.
We’re Alone: Essays by Edwidge Danticat| Read by Edwidge Danticat
[Recorded Books | 4.5 hrs.]
Edwidge Danticat has a fine sense of language. This audiobook of essays testifies to a close reader and observer of human affairs. The famed Haitian American novelist, memoirist, and children’s author is clearly a practiced narrator, and her delivery of the various French passages is musical.
The essay topics range from the horrors of racism, the toll of hurricanes, and the inequity of climate change to appreciation for various writers she admires. This fine collection creates an indelible portrait of a keen and remarkable mind.
